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A friend of mine who is a pretty acclaimed video producer (MTV award winner, had a documentary on Netflix) was in Jacksonville this week at Dynamite and was working on some stuff with Miro. I think it's way early to panic on his run.

"...Bruh"

Props to them for crafting three Cell matches that were all very different, but all good. The opener and women’s matches were better than the main, but you can’t argue with Roman and Randy as the top two guys given the work they’ve put in. I suspect the Reigns/Usos feud and matches might be divisive due to their story-based nature and methodical pace, but I loved all this shit. Everyone involved in this whole thing should take a bow.

Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. If you still don't like him, he'll be a mile away, and you'll have his shoes.

Is there anything to the theory that 1. buying a Bucks shirt was a tangible affirmative expression towards the desire for a wrestling alternative as part of the Grassroots Indy Movement (c) and, like taking down the lawn sign after an election, the t-shirt demand subsided as they got the alternative they wanted 2. The t-shirt sale was reciprocal for the overall Bucks experience which included the Elite chanting on the way in, the match itself, the super kick party show-close, and the personal interaction, and in the absence of all the other stuff, there’s not the same compulsion to get the shirt 3. All along they were more closely riding the wave of the Bullet Club merch popularity than their own thing I’m probably way over-thinking this...

What an unbelievable fucking game baseball is.

Nothing like the approval from the Samoan elders when such family savagery is shown. Once again, the women carry the PPV in the ring. Great match between Sasha and Bayley, just two people beating the hell out of each other.

I'm gonna catch hell for this, but he's not, he is, and they don't. When he started on the main roster, he wasn't all that over except through the inherent jingoism of American audiences. Over time he got over and was entertaining, but a lot of that was through the chemistry he had with his seconds, neither of whom came with him to AEW. And don't pretend that the whole Rusev Day push wasn't goofy. Sure, the fans loved it and latched onto it, but it was a comedy gimmick. He seems like a really cool guy, what with offering to pay people while they were furloughed, and he definitely deserved better than he got from the WWE at the end. But without some serious rehabilitation, he's hardly an instant-slot-into-the-main-event star. That would have been a TNA-style signing. It also doesn't help that the blonde buzzcut looks horrible on him.

23-3 at halftime, 92 Yds & 2 TDs for the 4th string RB, 49ers beating the shit out of NE all over the field NO PANTS ALLOWED

Brandi's value is her connection to Cody. They have chemistry together and she provides Cody with something to fight for and something to protect. She plays well into that and can generate actually sympathy in that instance. We saw that in the whipping angle and the Dark Order attack. Her without Cody has been universally terrible and nonsensical. The Nightmare Collective was never cool. Awesome Kong was obviously broken down and the scalping gimmick never went anywhere. She was in Andre the Giant territory not being able to get up or down. Mel never even got a little over and still isn't. Luther pointed to his own head for months and added nothing to the group. They were never good or interesting. Stop it. So to AEW's credit, they dropped the unit on Dark where most people wouldn't see it. Brandi was just with Dustin and QT now. Okay, fine because Cody had three other managers, two best friends and a dog to take him to the ring so I could see why that space was full. So then they add Allie to the group as the obvious turncoat except she never turns on them for months and months until, she just walks out on stage in her old gear. Clearly whatever this was supposed to be got dropped because everyone realized it was dumb. But lest we forget, before Allie can "turn", BRANDI started to turn heel by being obsessed with her own action figure. That also got dropped eventually with no pay off because they have great long term booking. But before that, Brandi tries to save Cody only to get choked out by Ana Jay to have her own section of the Dark Order feud. Which is where she should actually be in a supporting role in Cody feuds. They've since blown off the Cody portion of the feud (where Brandi took out like 6 guys at once because I hate my life) but are evidently continuing the Brandi portion based off her cooking and drinking show. She's also trying to court Red Velvet into her 'group' and I don't know why she needs a group at all as she has chemistry with no one other than Cody. It's been three dropped angles, one angle continuing after the main event players are out of the feud and between 3-4 turns of indeterminate origin. It's shit.

George Kittle is apparently a big Pentagon Zero fan.

Traditionally, I would think that being more beloved by the crowd should make a heel turn more effective, but we’ve obviously seen plenty of examples in WWE of fans rejecting heel turns outright. I think Brandi’s problem, and to a lesser extent Cody’s, is that they seem to be the faces of the company, moreso than the other EVPs, so her heel turns have seemed incongruous with all her other appearances. Being a voodoo priestess or whatever she was before doesn’t mesh with her corporate appearances the same way Stephanie’s evil heel boss spewing corporate platitudes does with her actual corp role.

"Hello, Ladies." - MiSu after he buys a pair. Translation from the Japanese description amuses me. "On days when important tests and business negotiations are held, wear "STONE PITBULL" long boxer shorts and break through the front!"

@Dolfan in NYC Go off course during your Mania ride and watch this for us.

Zombae is going to be okay, it was concern over a possible throat injury, but she's okay now.

Sasha Banks has now won all three main roster women's titles. Sasha Banks has held all three this year. Some going, @Niners Fan in CT!

I get that. Just my view that dating back to the Edge feud, he and Asuka have been the MVP’s of Raw during the pandemic.

The Tribal Chief and the Wild Samoans.

Good show. This is the Way!

And...NEW!!! Sasha Banks wins the WWE Smackdown Women's Championship for the first time ending Bayley's 380 days record reign. Congratulations, Sasha Banks.

Jesus Christ.

I'm pretty sure Gaethje and Alvarez are going to go down as all time great lightweights. I think 9 or 9.5 out of 10 folks would agree with that.

Wouldn't a lot of names mean depth? Any time you use the phrase "a lot", that usually means depth. Re: Penn There was a reason why UFC 94 was a huge show. BJ wasn't considered old at the time. That was way later. There was many people that thought BJ had a chance to knock him out. Now, the folks who actually thought about it picked GSP to win. However, that doesn't take away the merit away from the victory. The win was huge for GSP in terms of legacy. The only thing that hurts that win in my eyes is Penn didn't exactly have the strongest career he could have had due to various things behind the scenes with his career. He could have had a run much longer than he did had not just left UFC to go have random fights at random weights. As much as I don't like Fitch, that was still a very good win for GSP just based on Fitch's longevity. You could make the same case for Shields because he was around for awhile and for the vast majority of his career, he was a very good fighter. With that said, the one thing that hurts GSP when it comes to GOAT argument in my eyes actually is the fact that he never went up against a Khabib type guy that wasn't gonna get double legged instantly. The closest guys on that level were like Sherk (who probably should have never been a WW) and Hughes. However, those guys are not even in the same stratosphere in terms of what they could do with their grappling compared to Khabib. Hughes developed some halfway decent BJJ towards to end of his last title run, but that wasn't exactly against the strongest competition. I never thought the Koscheck and Fitch level guys who were good had any chance of beating him because what were they good at that GSP wasn't better at? That's why it was funny to me that people weren't penalizing GSP for what they were penalizing Anderson for at the time? Who did people see as a true challenge for GSP within reason (meaning not Anderson or anyone at a higher weight class)? For me, that's why it's very hard to compare the fighters from now to back then. The luxury the fighters have now for the most part is now 95% of the top talent does reside in the UFC, and the doors have opened up when it comes to fostering better talent. IMO We also get more mediocre and so-so fighters, but that's what comes with the territory. Khabib is the closest we're going to get to the Anderson Silva and GSP level scary dominant fighter. That's now the latest benchmark. Everything else is going to be based on longevity. There are going to be guys who look dominant from time-to-time, but we're not going to have many folks who look like the rest of division doesn't even belong in the same sport as them. With Jones, I'm of two minds. Based on longevity and consistent strength of schedule, he should be always in the running for GOAT whether you take away a lot of potential cheating or not. He was fighting better guys on the way up to the point when he was champion, he had burn though like half the division by the time 2011 ended. Moreover, I think he changed the narrative on what you needed to be an all time great fighter. Did he have unbelievable KO power? No. Was he this wrestling dynamo? His wrestling is pretty good, but there were and better wrestlers than him. Was he this submission wizard? Well, once he beat you into a pulp on the ground or softened you pretty nice on the feet, he could easily submit you. He could win via any avenue he needed to beat you with. At the same time, it's also what will eventually or probably spell doom for him in his career just because everyone now is competent at just about everything. Besides the second Cormier fight and maybe Machida where that first round was slightly touch and go, he has never shown that has the one great eraser to end fights out of nowhere. That's where the world class strikers and submission grapplers can do and always have in their back pocket. It took a decade for him to get to this place, but now, I think Jon needs that more than ever in an era where guys are more well rounded and less easily overpowered. Otherwise his fights are going to devolve into who's going to win in a measured kickboxing match: Jon Jones or the guy who Jon Jones is facing? That's what both the Reyes and Marreta fights were. His wrestling isn't as dominant because he's not this world class wrestler and never was. Add in the fact, someone like Anthony Smith will be more defensive in the clinch and also be in full on "don't get finished" mode just so he can say he went the distance on route to a 50-45 3x loss. If he goes to heavyweight, I don't think that changes unless it just reinvigorates him. He's not going to look otherworldly in every fight like we saw for a very long stretch of his career. So the question becomes are you willing to take the wins he does accumulate or do you favor fighters who are going to have impressive finishes with a shorter resume over a much shorter timeframe? As for Fedor, right now, I think I have Werdum neck-and-neck with him or slightly above him just because he beat Fedor, Cain, and a laundry list of good fighters. You can not be lower than 1B or 2 on the HW list. Also, I think Stipe deserves to be at least 2 or 3 because he beat Werdum, DC (who is an ATG), Overeem, and an absolute killer in Ngannou. If the HW list is cloudy as to who is 1, 2, and 3, then you can't be the greatest of all time over all the weight classes.

Darkly laughing at the penalty for "unsafe hit on a defenseless receiver" (Perriman). It's the Jets... shouldn't that be redundant?

i am just starting a giant Spider-Man read. I started with Amazing Fantasy #15 and have read the first 10 or so issues of Amazing. I plan on reading everything (Amazing, Web of, Peter Parker, Spectacular, etc.) up until November of 1998 when it looks like the entire line went through a relaunch or something. Over 1000 books so it should take me a couple years, but i previously did the same with Batman and X-Men and really enjoyed the result. Most looking forward to the Clone Saga (reputation aside....) and i plan to read the Superior storyline after i finish my plan as it is. @The NaturalAnything i should keep an eye out for, or things to keep in mind?

The Mark Waid Captain America is pretty good actually. I am extremely partial to the Brubaker Captain series. The whole run from Death of Captain America on is incredible and some of his best work. I also have been on a huge Daredevil kick and recommend Frank Miller's work even though some of it doesn't hold up as much as it should in 2020. If you like a darker story I would go Brubaker and Bendis. Waid's version is more laid back than the crime noir of Brubaker/Bendis.

Whats funny is that Redford would have been the logical choice to play Cap if there big budget Marvel movies in the early 1970s. (Hashtag Reb Brown)

I feel like the Best Friends feud will be good for him, even if they’re getting into it in a silly way. They’re pros and will make him look good.

Redford's answer to why he wanted to do Winter Soldier is the best Clearly he wouldn't make it as a wrestling veteran with that type of attitude

I don't think we're winning the East.

DAL/WFT being the National game is the biggest selling point to get RedZone anyone could ask for.

Hellwig, trying to make the world work.

In the same vein as the first John Wick flick, if I'd expanded my ballot to a whole 100 movies then Winter Solider was almost certainly making it. The action in this one is amazing. Every punch and kick had a kind of impact that made it stand out from the Marvel movies to that point. The Russo brothers are good at this stuff. And goddamn do I just love Chris Evans in this role in general. In terms of how big these movies have gotten, it sometimes blows my mind that they got Robert Redford for the fifth lead in a Captain America sequel and the bench is so deep in so many of these movies now that a move like that made sense. Just bananas.

I’m just here for Sasha/Bayley

sTOp bRInGInG pOLitiCS inTO NasCAr

Sometimes you almost get fired for the blood and then sometimes you know you're so fucking good you've got them by the balls Here ya go, Rev and this should be here anyway

If they had crowds what they probably would do would have Gable as a heel and encourage the crowd to call him Shorty G to annoy Gable as cheap heel heat.

Plus he snagged Sofia Vergara and he's a fan of D&D and wrestling. So all in all he'd probably be a fun dude to hang out with.

A couple of months ago (or maybe half a year ago, who knows anymore) I caught myself poring over AEW's Youtube data to figure out who the most over people in the company were. I settled firmly on the idea that the top three were Moxley, Orange Cassidy, and Jericho, with a large gap between those three and everyone else. I've been mulling over an AEW t-shirt order the last few weeks and I've been noticing patterns in the "Weekly" category of best-sellers. The top t-shirt movers seem to be... Orange Cassidy, by a mile, with Best Friends included. Three of the top four shirts, currently. And this is a few weeks removed from the Sue's Minivan shirt. A pretty obvious top five is completed by Moxley, Darby Allin, Jericho, and Adam Page. Kenny Omega has a lot of shirts in the top 50 and might be undersold by my observations due to the sheer volume of shirts he has available. This is great news for figuring out who's actually over - data points to putting a belt on one member of Best Friends + OC as a fucking necessity once crowds come back, for instance, but also tells a pretty worrying tale about other acts. The Young Bucks, Masters of Merch, just aren't there. And they haven't been, at all, for at least three or four weeks. The other half of their current feud, FTR, have nothing in the current or monthly Top 40 either, which is damning. Quarter-hour ratings and fan response to matches have led me to believe that FTR are not nearly as over as the AEW office presents them as, but it would also seem that this feud is outright cold. Youtube numbers seem to back this up. Other things Youtube might be telling me - John Silver is more over than Jim Ross, Ricky Starks is more over than Miro (who's views have instantly fallen off a cliff), and that matches based on doofy BTE storylines (Sydal/Nakazawa, Avalon/Cutler) = Youtube ratings.

MJF and Chris Jericho singing “Me and My Shadow” was a shout out to me!!!

No soy un terremoto. No soy un tiburón. No soy una avalancha. ¡Soy un hombre!